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Chinese Man Who Bragged of Privilege Gets Six Years

Chen Guangqian with a portrait of his daughter, who was killed by Li Qiming in a hit-and-run accident.Credit
Cara Anna/Associated Press

SHANGHAI — A Chinese court on Sunday sentenced a 23-year-old man to six years in prison for killing one young woman and injuring another in a drunken-driving accident that drew public outrage in China.

The case became a sensation because witnesses said the suspect, Li Qiming, had tried to flee the scene of the accident in October and evade responsibility by stressing that he was the son of a senior police official.

His words — “Sue me if you dare. My father is Li Gang!” — quickly became a cynical catchphrase to describe various forms of corruption in China and a symbol of the growing divide between the elite and the underprivileged.

At a one-day trial last week that was closed to the public, Mr. Li pleaded guilty to drunken driving and vehicular manslaughter in a court in northern China’s Hebei Province, the court said Sunday. It also said he had fled the scene of the crime.

But after handing down a six-year prison sentence, the court said Mr. Li had received a lenient sentence because “he confessed to all his crimes and his family reconciled with the victims’ families through compensation.”

The court said Mr. Li’s parents had paid 460,000 renminbi, or nearly $70,000, to the family of Chen Xiaofeng, a 20-year-old college student who was killed in the accident. His parents also paid 91,000 renminbi, about $14,000, to the other victim, Zhang Jingjing, a fellow student who suffered a broken leg.

The two young women were in-line skating on the campus of Hebei University when they were struck by Mr. Li, who was reported to be racing around in a Volkswagen sedan. Mr. Li’s father, Li Gang, is the deputy public security chief in the district where the school is located, according to China’s state-run news media.

Mr. Li and his father appeared on state-run television after the accident and apologized.

The families of the victims could not be reached for comment on Sunday. But Zhang Kai, a lawyer who at one time represented the family of Chen Xiaofeng, called the verdict flawed.

A version of this article appears in print on January 31, 2011, on page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: Chinese Man Who Bragged Of Privilege Gets Six Years. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe